Denise Alley

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 Perhaps you've heard Denise Alley speak at a conference?  Or maybe you saw Denise and her family "The Wisdom Indian Dancers" performing at one of Willie Nelson's Farm Aid Benefit concerts doing the Native American sign language to "The Lord's Prayer" as Willie sang it to open up the concert? Or maybe you just saw her beating her drum next to Neil Young in the opening of the Bridge School Benefit concert as he sang, “Sugar Mountain.”   No matter how you found about her, you know that Denise speaks and performs with spirit!  

 With over 35 years of experience as a speaker and Native American performer internationally, she has worked with businesses, organizations, Native American tribes, and conferences providing keynotes and workshops.  

Denise uniquely blends her tribal roots, intuition, and enthusiasm for life to enhance personal and professional development and success in her clients whether one-on-one or in an audience as she speaks.  She is the author of Native Soul Heart and Healing: Stories, Blessings and Ways to Overcome Victimhood, rated #1 on Amazon for best Native American Spirituality in 2022. She is currently finishing up her second book, They Call Me Granddaughter: Ancient Wisdom for Living a Sacred Life, that will be coming out in the spring 2026, along with being aired on the upcoming Prime TV show, "Writer's Island" Season 2, where she was a cast member, one of 16 authors writing her book. She was filmed in the British Virgin Islands on Tortola.

Denise has been on PBS, cable networks, the Willie Nelson's Roadhouse Sirius XM Satellite, Native America Calling, and interviewed on ICT- Indian Country Today. 

Alley is involved in charitable causes and performs annually for Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid benefit concerts (over 30 years) and performed with Neil Young and the late Peggy Young in the Bridge School benefit concerts with her son and granddaughters for over 15 years.

Coming from Cherokee, Loyal-Shawnee and Otoe descent, Denise grew up in the northeastern hills of Oklahoma in Craig County. Living modestly in a two-bedroom house with her grandparents she helped her grandmother do the laundry in an old tub hand-wringer washer, and drank peyote tea when she got sick. Denise says, “ I never knew peyote was drug until I went to college.”  She graduated from Brigham Young University in Communications.

Today, Denise shares a unique message from  ancient  wisdom to living a sacred life, to simply slow down, breathe, feel the grass beneath your feet and feel gratitude in your heart.  

Denise is a sought after keynote speaker that shares humor and stories from the past blended with faith, hope and wholeness for the future despite society abuse in families, race or culture, a message that applies to both personal and professional development.